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O’FALLON, Mo. (News 4 Investigates) – It’s pretty bad when you rip-off a senior citizen, but that is exactly what happened to an 86-year-old O’Fallon woman.

Virginia Hoock tells News 4 she is a victim of a royal rip-off and she didn’t know it until her granddaughter started checking her bank statements.

For nearly two years, she was charged a monthly fee of $29.95 to a company in Minnesota that she has never heard of – a total of around $700.

“They said they had called me over the phone and I told them my credit card number,” Virginia said.

The company, known as ‘Budget Savers’, offers online coupons, but Virginia doesn’t even own a computer.

News 4 was able to speak to an operator who assured there was no fraud involved and said Virginia would have to fill out paperwork to be considered for a refund.

The operator also stated that Virginia, and others like her, get signed up when they buy an unrelated product and that is when they are offered a “free” trial membership to Budget Savers. If the person doesn’t cancel the trial membership then they will get billed for each month.

The bottom line is you should always check your credit card statements because charges can easily go unnoticed with other charges to your account. Also, be cautious about agreeing to free trial memberships for anything unless it is something you would consider paying for in the future.